Bad Guys: America's Most Wanted in Their Own Words [Hardcover]

Mark Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 1996

BAD GUYS Bad Guys is a chilling look at the world of crime -- from burglar to drug smuggler, from small-time hustler to full-time scam artist -- told in the words of America's most wanted themselves. Young and old, male and female, career criminal and joyrider, bad guys tell their stories in voices that reveal the full range of emotions, from pride and regret to anger and shame, and even humor. (There's an irresistible account of a robbery gone so awry that the stick-up man has to hail a taxi to try to flee the crime scene.)

The criminals Mark Baker has interviewed for this book talk candidly about how they started on a life of crime, what their lives are like day-to-day (they talk, for example, about the mechanics of money laundering, planning a robbery, manufacturing fake drugs, and so forth), and the often brutal rituals of life in prison, where most career criminals eventually find themselves.

Bad Guys is gritty, compelling, and inimitably authentic. These are stories that take us inside a shadowy world that surrounds us, day and night, but which we seldom see until the terrifying moments that we become crime victims ourselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 45 bad guys and 15 bad gals interviewed by Baker (Cops) are anomalous, he writes, because none of them denies guilt. They are also unusual because they claim they never became involved in violence unless it was forced on them. Most are robbers, drug dealers, pimps, smugglers, gamblers or the authors of white-collar scams. Without exception, all share "the inability to grow up," because for them "adult responsibility is unthinkable," Baker writes. Unfortunately, however, the details of most of their crimes, especially their complex financial machinations and their exploits in smuggling drugs, are exceedingly tedious, even to the dedicated true-crime buff. The only genuinely memorable passages appear in the chapter on life in prison; interviewees describe unrelieved tension, constant watchfulness and inescapable paranoia. After conducting these interviews, Baker suggests we view career criminals as neither societal vermin nor underprivileged victims.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Baker here assembles first-person accounts of petty criminals. Giving background information, then letting the criminals speak for themselves, he details their origins, their unlawful careers, and their lives in prison. Among those included are a stick-up artist, an armed robber, a car thief, a pimp, a check kiter, a scam artist, a hustler, and a crack user. Most of the bad guys emerge as not really bad but as just human beings who took a wrong turn and ended up in a spiral of self-defeat. But there is a sameness to the tales (and to the tone of voice) that prevents one from knowing them really well and from caring for them very much. Interesting for criminology collections but marginal for general collections.
-?Ben Harrison, East Orange P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684810026
• ISBN-13: 978-0684810027
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,789,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT!, June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Guys (Paperback)

It is a wonderful book! The words from the criminals is what we call "Right from the horse's mouth! Their words make your skin crawl!" A must read for crime story fans.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed and Without Moral Compass, September 25, 2002

By 

buddyhead (Taxachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Guys: America's Most Wanted in Their Own Words (Hardcover)

I realize that this collection of interviews wasn't designed as a whole that transcends the sum of its parts; however, more guidance of any kind was needed here. I'm not asking for a beautiful puzzle whose pieces fit together perfectly, but don't just give me a pile of pieces dumped on the floor carelessly. There was no flow to Bad Guys, and even the chapters don't do much to sort things out- everything is sort of clumped together under the heading of "CRIME," which is too huge a theme not to be subdivided. Creatively, very little was required of this author, and he could have spiced up what little original writing he actually added to this compilation.

Some of the tales are interesting, but the book plays like a series of quotes instead of a tapestry that tells something (incidentally, many of the quotes are quite funny or insightful). It was hard to sort out who was saying what, with almost no details provided about the speakers, who blended in seamlessly in absence of distinguishing characteristics. Not to mention that most of these career criminals had no shortage of offenses to talk about, to the point where there was no use in parsing out their stories into chapters organized by crime. As a result, you gain no more insight into the psychological profile of the murderer than you do of the card sharks.

It is galling how the (criminal) narrators feel they are resigned to their fates, and powerless to stop their lives of crime. Most often than not, it was boredom that drove them to their crimes. There is not a lot of enablement here, which is nice, but nor is there any penitence. There is a lot of self-righteousness on the part of the criminals, many of whom immersed themselves in their seedy worlds because it was easier than securing a lower-paying real job. Many spoiled rich kids got involved in crime to fuel drug habits, and because they weren't used to having to work for things. Many criminals felt that rich folks had it coming when they got robbed- as if possessing money through hard work were more of a crime than beating people to acquire financial gain. Many felt that society in general deserved to get plundered because the system was so vulnerable, and made it so easy for them to get away with their despicable acts.

In general, the only sorrow expressed was precisely due to the fact that these guys and gals got caught and are being interviewed from prison- instead of due to any moral clarity- and it is quite maddening to read.